When purchasing ground beef, it is not always possible to know which beef cuts were used to produce the ground beef unless it is labeled "ground round" or "ground chuck". It is often preferable to purchase the beef cut of your choice and grind it at home, however the beef should not be ground until you are ready to use it because ground meat deteriorates in quality rather quickly. Before the meat is ground, the gristle and tendons should be removed. Several methods for producing ground beef at home are described below.

Meat Grinder

A manual grinder can be used to grind meat as coarse or fine as you require. This method produces the most evenly ground meat. Some electric mixers also have attachments for grinding meat.

Food Processor

A food processor is a convenient tool for chopping or grinding beef.

The beef should be cut into cubes before it is placed into the food processor.

The food processor should be pulsed on and off rather than allowing it to operate continuously. This prevents the beef cubes from becoming over-processed.

The meat should be stirred after several pulses to provide an even grind.

The food processor will grind the beef quickly so it can be easy to over-process the meat, resulting in ground beef that has a pasty texture. The best results occur when the meat is ground just until the larger chucks are broken down into pieces that are no smaller than ¼ inch.

Hand Chopping

With the use of a sharp knife, beef can be cut into cubes. It can then be cut into smaller pieces until the meat is the consistency that is desired. Hand chopping will provide firmer ground meat than any of the machine methods.